So, we made it. By “we” I mean those of us who are finishing up this school year. Personally, I am about to finish my sophomore year of college. The end of the year means finals, finding summer jobs, saying goodbye to friends, and worst of all; moving.

Yes, moving is terrible. Taking down decorations, filling boxes, and moving furniture is something that I will avoid as long as possible. So naturally, I’m writing about it.

Here are six things I learned while packing:

Sticky tack is awful. And at the beginning of the year sticky tack seems like such a great idea, but eight months later it does not.

My apartment/home/room is always dirtier than I think it is. I think, “I clean pretty regularly”, “I keep up with my chores”, but when I move the couch and finally look under the rug I find three layers of dirt and a tiny suburb of dust bunnies huddled in the corner. Always. Every time.

I have so much stuff. I would even say I have too much stuff. And most of it is literally junk that I forgot I had, so I put it in a random closet or drawer and never dealt with. Why do I do this.

I don’t need to save so many pieces of candy. It happens, I get candy in the mail, collect it from campus activities, get handed candy from people trying to catch my attention from tables in the cafeteria. And then where does it go? In a bowl. In my apartment. And then forgotten about until it’s melted or hard or gross. Lesson: go on a candy purge every three weeks. It’s very important.

I will never feel more powerful than when I successfully fit a million random things into my tiny little toyota corolla. She’s strong, but she is mighty. Like the little engine that could.

There are very few things that are as sad as walking into an apartment that is empty of decorations, furniture, and every little thing that made it home. When I first walked into my apartment, the white walls and empty rooms are a blank canvas for everything that is coming. But leaving an apartment with white walls and empty rooms feels a little like erasing everything that was.

My goal, as I move out of sophomore year and into summer and then junior year, is that the end is not an ending. It is not erasing. It is restarting. It is clicking the metaphorical refresh button and letting yourself be open to new opportunities, situations, and people.

As we finish this season, don’t think of it as an end. Think of it as a re-beginning.

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